Traditional computer systems include a single display, e.g., a single screen. The display can display data to a user via a desktop, e.g., a graphical user interface (GUI) upon which objects (e.g., windows, computer icons, etc.) can be placed. Computer systems have been developed that include multiple displays, e.g., multiple screens, which can each display a portion of a desktop such that a single desktop can be displayed over multiple displays. The desktop can thus often be larger than available with a single display, which can allow for visualization of a greater amount of data and/or provide a better user experience by allowing a user to better organize data across the multiple displays, e.g., arrange one type of a data on a first one of the displays, arrange a second type of data on a second one of the displays, etc. Data can be organized by moving windows between different ones of the displays. A window displayed on the desktop can be moved between portions of the desktop, e.g., between displays, in any number of ways, as will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, such as by user manipulation of a touch screen to drag and drop the window, a user dragging and dropping the window using an input/output device (e.g., a mouse, a stylus, a touchpad, etc.), user-input keyboard instruction, etc.
In a conventional computer system including multiple displays, one of the displays is designated as a primary display, while the other display(s) are designated as secondary display(s). The primary display is the display with which a user first and primarily interacts, e.g., logs onto, sets and changes system settings on, etc. Traditionally, a computer system considers the primary display as being physically located to the left of a secondary display. Thus, moving a window displayed on the primary display toward the right in a logical direction physically toward the secondary display moves the window to the secondary display. However, in some instances, a primary display may actually be physically located to the right of the secondary display due to, e.g., office space considerations, a physical desk setup, electrical outlet proximity, user preference, etc. If the primary display is actually physically located to the right of the secondary display, when a user moves a window displayed on the primary display toward the left in a direction physically toward the secondary display, the window will not move to the secondary display because the secondary display is presumed to not be in the left direction in which the window is moving. Moving the window in the left direction is intuitive to a user because of the physical locations of the primary and secondary displays. Yet, the user is forced to move the window in a counter-intuitive, right direction in order to move the window off the primary display and onto the secondary display, thereby providing a frustrating and counter-intuitive user experience.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved devices and methods for moving windows or other user interface objects back and forth between displays.